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The Marchen
The Marchen is a portrayal of the Fear of Memory. It is a living meme or story that usually manifests as an ordinary book. It grows stronger each time a human encounters it and traps them by recreating one of their childhood fantasies. The longer someone stays in the Marchen, the harder it is to escape. In the event that the victim realizes something is wrong, the Marchen will use their worst nightmares against them. Their supposedly perfect fantasy, their spotless childhood, is flipped over, and dark truths emerge. Unlike many other Fears, The Marchen does not kill its victims; rather it absorbs them into itself and feeds off their energy. Once the human is caught and reaches the point of no return, they will become stuck inside of it forever. Stuck in either a neverending fantasy that slowly becomes a dull torture or an eternal nightmare that becomes their own personal hell. In some canons, Jack of All is connected to the Marchen. Depending on the story, Jack is either a servant who offers a copy of a Marchen book to victims who desire to escape from their boring lives or a specific manifestation of the Marchen. Chess Motif The Marchen will sometimes use or recycle victims to expose others to its memetic properties. The Marchen sets these humans into a collective based off a motif or theme. Different motifs are used for different people, as the Marchen is feeding off the person's mind. One of the most common motifs it utilizes is chess, which is where the Marchen's mentality of "triumph over difficulty" comes into play. The Marchen sees every victim as a challenge or contest and the series of chess games represent all the hard work the Marchen puts into capturing a victim. The participants in the Marchen's game of chess include: *'The Pawns' are human victims of the Marchen. Their connection to the Marchen varies, but they are always used for its benefit. The Marchen views capturing humans as a chess game, and it uses Pawns like a normal chess player would use pawns. Pawns can be cultists of the Marchen, or just normal people who have been exposed to its memetic presence. *'The Knights' are the classification the Marchen gives to allied Fears. Any Fear that somehow figures into its "game", or is currently helping the Marchen due to a common goal, is pushed into this classification. Otherwise, the Fear does not have any relation to the Marchen, other than being on the board. Knights move in a way unlike any other piece on the board, and are able to bypass other pieces (basically the chess equivalent of their eldritch nature and their ability to use the Godsway). *'The Bishop' is like a herald or evangelist. It spreads the memetic presence of the Marchen, which exposes others to it. Just like how the bishops in actual chess move diagonally, which mimics non-confrontational behavior, the Marchen's bishops move in an unpredictable and sneaky way. *'The Rooks' are denizens. They are monsters that lurk under people's nightmares. For example, if your fantasy included a dancing tea kettle, the Rook would hide underneath a Disney-esque cartoon mask. They are generally the direct arbitrators of the Marchen's will, but they also follow the promoted Queen. They are the Marchen's equivalent of proxies, but they are not human in nature. They are similar to the fantastical replacements of common people and objects in a person's life that was shown in the film Coraline. *'The Queens' are eldritch beings created by the ascension of a victim to becoming the ruler of their fantasy. These are usually the victims with the strongest wills. They are similar in nature to the Fears, but since they are still human at their core, they are incapable of ascending to true power. Most of them follow the Marchen's will instinctually, but many of them become independent. They cannot, however, ever bring joy to the world, or get back in touch with their humanity. They are destined to fail and their actions will always benefits the Marchen. They can try to help people, but because of the Marchen's curse, it's futile. *'The King' is the Marchen itself. He controls all the pieces on the board. Unlike the other pieces, the King cannot be captured. He rarely attacks directly; he uses the other pieces for that. He also usually doesn't appear directly. He generally appears in a position of royalty, and when a victim appears, he "crowns' them. Category:The Fears Category:The Marchen